FYI: **Just a reminder that Pembroke’s holiday break begins on December 18 until January 2. The last day of class is Friday, December 17, and classes resume on January 3. **On December 17th, the whole school is having a pajama day. **Please remember to bring in your wrapped $10 gift for your own child on Polar Express Day. This gift is supposed to be from Santa. Any of the items for polar express day can come in before Polar Express day. **You may leave your child’s snow pants at school during the winter season.

Classroom Contract: In our classroom, the children have been excellent at following the classroom rules, such as using quiet voices and keeping your body to yourself. Now it was time for us to create a Kindergarten Contract. The contract is a signed agreement stating ways that we will take care of each other. We drafted the words to the contract as a whole class using everyone’s input. We thought about our classroom, and concepts that we need to work on as friends. The contract states: “We will take care of our friends by playing with everyone. We will listen to our friends and teachers. We will always take turns.” After it was complete, each student signed it. We will say this contract everyday after reciting the Pledge of Allegiance.

Books: I hope that the children have been enjoying their individual take home books in homework folders. After our holiday break, I will retest their individual reading levels. Their books will likely increase in difficulty after the break. When reading their work during writer’s workshop or during buddy reading, children are learning how to always point to their words as they are reading. This helps them to track their reading.

Handwriting: The kindergarten students participate in the Handwriting Without Tears writing curriculum. They each work on their individual workbooks about twice a week. They work at their own pace. Many of our students are almost done with upper case letters. Ask them to show you how to properly form their letters, starting at the top. Please reinforce them to always begin their letters at the top. This will become much more important as they move into first grade. They will move into proper lower case letter formation soon.

Polar Regions: The children have really become interested in our current learning theme. In construction area, they have been building penguin houses, slopes for penguins to toboggan down, and snow storms. In sensory table, they have been playing with polar animals and making icebergs. At the drama center, our igloo has become home to a variety of polar animals. They enjoy acting out the characters from our chapter book: Mr. Popper’s Penguins. Thus far in our book, Mr. Popper, Mrs. Popper, and their children Janie and Bill, have 12 penguins living in their house. Ask your child to tell you more details about it!! We have been learning that different animals live in the North Pole (Arctic) than the South Pole (Antarctic). We did some research from our books and made a Venn Diagram comparing the two regions. Look for our Venn Diagram hanging in the hallway.

Art Class with Mr. Jeff: Children learned about the artist Wassily Kandinsky this week. Mr. Jeff introduced them to his work, and showed them how to recreate this type of art. Their work examples are on display outside of our classroom.

Have a great weekend!!